


Sweet Stop

by helsinkibaby



Category: CSI
Genre: Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-09-08
Updated: 2003-09-08
Packaged: 2017-10-18 18:05:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time he kisses her is in an elevator.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Stop

It's a rundown elevator in a rundown apartment block, and they're on their way to the top floor to investigate a crime scene. They've done it a thousand times, are treating it as just another ordinary day, until the elevator starts stuttering in its ascent before finally juddering to a halt.

They stare at one another in horror for a second before checking the emergency phone, which isn't working. He takes out his cell phone, makes a call to Brass, who tells them he'll do what he can, but they're going to have to sit tight for the moment.

When Brass calls back some twenty minutes later, he tells them that he's trying to find someone who can fix the problem, but they might want to settle in for a long wait.

After almost two hours, he's surprised that she hasn't worn a hole in the floor with all her pacing, while he's sitting down, resting his arms loosely on his knees, staring up at her. Not for the first time, he tries to get her to sit down, to relax, and it's only when she glances quickly at him that he realises what the problem is; that this is, literally, one of her worst nightmares.

He doesn't call her on it though, not when he's trapped in an enclosed space with her. Instead, he tries to talk to her, anything to keep her mind of their predicament, and to his surprise, she seems willing to go along with it. They trade stories about cases, and a couple of embarrassing stories about Nick, and they've been there for almost three hours when her stomach emits an audible rumble.

She looks away from him, embarrassed, but he doesn't turn a hair, reaching over to his kit, searching in one of the cool compartments, grinning in triumph when he pulls out a candy bar. Her eyes light up like she's just won the lottery, then they narrow, and while she takes a piece from him, she also asks him how come he keeps candy bars in his field kit?

A devilish smile comes to his face as he asks her if she's ever been stuck at a faraway crime scene with Catherine, because in his experience, chocolate is the only thing that can soothe that woman's frazzled temper. She laughs softly and nods, telling him a story as he chews his own piece about a crime scene at a convenience store seventy-five miles out of town and the coroner being delayed, and her handing Catherine a candy bar for much the same reason. He shrugs, tells her that he tried to get Grissom to allow him to write the candy off as a necessary work expense, but that Grissom wouldn't buy it, and that makes her laugh too.

By the time the bar is eaten, evenly shared between the two of them, she's sitting on the floor beside him, considerably more relaxed. Whether it's the chocolate or the conversation, he's not sure, but he knows he's glad of it. And when he notices that she seems to be fighting the urge to keep her eyes open, he nudges her knee with his, telling her that she can go to sleep if she wants to; that he'll wake her if anything happens. She protests, tells him that she's fine, but then a yawn swallows half her face, and he chuckles, repeating himself, adding a promise he won't tell anyone.

She denies her need for sleep once again, but he looks at her after a few minutes of silence when her head falls on to his shoulder, and he realises that she's out for the count. She's sitting awkwardly though he notes, at a strange angle, and he knows that when she wakes, she's going to be sore, so he shifts slightly, sliding his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into the circle of his arms. He does it carefully, afraid to wake her, but there's no chance of that, and in her sleep, she presses herself against him, making herself comfortable.

Sighing, he rests his head on top of hers, and waits.

He's not sure how much later it is when his cell phone rings, and he grabs for it with his free hand as quickly as he can. It's not quick enough though, because when he's talking to Brass, she's blinking sleepily up at him, though she doesn't look annoyed to find herself sitting like this, so close to him.

In fact, she looks anything but annoyed, and when he hangs up the phone, tells her that Brass said someone will be there in about twenty minutes, his voice fades away at the look that's in her eyes.

No-one's looked at him like that in too long, and he never thought it would be her doing it.

He does the only thing he can think of to do, the only thing he wants to do; drawn as if by magnetism to fit his lips to hers.

The first time he kisses her is in an elevator.

It won't be the last.


End file.
